Caps Blank The Rangers, 1-0

Published at11:23, May 05 2015

WASHINGTON — Braden Holtby made 30 saves for his second career playoff shutout and Jay Beagle scored his first goal of the postseason, giving the Washington Capitals a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Monday.

Washington holds a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Beagle, one of the Capitals’ less-heralded players, put the puck past Henrik Lundqvist on a second-effort, deflected shot 7 1/2 minutes into the second period. Alex Ovechkin, meanwhile, was held without a goal for the first time in the series.

The line of Beagle, Troy Brouwer and Andre Burakovsky had zero goals through Washington’s first nine games of these playoffs, but as Beagle put it: “We felt like we had more to give.”

Holtby was at his goalkeeping best, stopping Martin St. Louis on a 1-on-1 six minutes after Beagle scored.